The Liquidmatrix Security Digest Podcast.
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Episode 5 -- Everybody's Working For The Weekend (Canada Day Edition) The fun with the Liquidmatrix gang continues in this episode. Pay close attention and you'll notice that there aren't any edits in this one. That's right - one take and we've got it in the can. Lots of good stuff in here - let us know if we missed anything. DISCLAIMER: It's not that explicit, but you may want to use headphones if you're at work. In this episode:

First off I want to say that I'm really enjoying the podcast. I'm still very early into my career and trying to transition into InfoSec. I would love to hear about all of your views on Information Security in colleges. I was thinking about it following some twitter chatter between some people and Chris Eng about this. I thought that there were some good conversations. I'm a little bit disappointed since I just finished my M.S in Computer Info Sys with a security concentration. In the classes I took we learned some basic network security concepts. Only touched a bit on web application security. I was hoping we would of done some offensive stuff, but we never did.

I compared my classes to pen testing classes out there and it seems to me they’re on a better track but what do I know.

I was wondering if you could help me with a small dilemma I'm facing. I've been working as one of those penetration tester types in the financial sector for a while now, and my company treats me right... but more and more I hear the calling of the darkside... no, not THAT darkside, the calls of those working for security companies and $vendor that get to do exciting things with exciting people! The ones that get to actually TALK about their research...

P.S: Love the show... but you guys are very Canadian O.o' ;) See you guys in Vegas I hope.... eh!

Hey there fellow Canucks…

Over the years I've had many IT jobs, from network admin to system admin for small consulting firms in my area (nothing big). A common theme was the unwillingness to implement the most basic of security mechanisms, or acknowledge the possibility that the systems/networks we would implement for our clients were perhaps done in a un-secure fashion. As a security enthusiast this was very frustrating.

On a few occasions, I would prove this using a few simple demonstrations on how easy malware, or human, could compromise the network (malicious emails, word/pdf docs, ms08_067 for example). Every time my demonstrations were brushed off as "unlikely" or "impossible", requiring a level of technical knowledge that no employee possesses inside "client X". One such place was an ISP, where we would setup and host websites, providing clients with FTP access to upload and download content. I was actually instructed not to make the passwords too complicated, to ensure our clients were able to use it. Even after I had showed my boss a public exploit (from exploit-db) was available for the FTP software used. Again brushed off as "unlikely" seeing the exploit needed to be authenticated to properly function. This, of course, started the debate of weak passwords that lasted all of 2 seconds… At another spot, I actually showed the senior administrator (my supervisor), hosting a SSH server on port 80 was possible… funny. By now I think you get the picture on how security was handled, so I won't go any further.

My question is what would you say to the lonely sys-admin, in a small to mid sized firm, on how to handle an employer that doesn't seem concerned at all with security? How should the lonely admin tackle these types of issues without annoying "the boss" with this silly thing called "security", when it's obvious he or she is not willing to listen?

I'm fortunate enough to no longer be in this situation, but I'm sure there are many out there still living with these types of conditions. Steven

ps.: hope all of this made sense, and good job on the podcast very much enjoying it so far